How Attention Works

At their core, all attention techniques are promises. You are promising to share something of value, if they trade their attention. The key is to match your promise to something people are interested in, something they want. For example, a promise to share what happened at work is going to be more interesting to your … Read more

Mirroring

Mirroring is when one person mimics another person’s behavior. Mirroring tends to create rapport or increased liking. It is typically focused on body language, like mimicking the person’s arm or leg positions, but it can also extend to ideas and interests. This page will link to various research on mirroring, but also provide you with … Read more

4 Reasons Why You Can’t Trust Your Feelings, Brain, Memory, Or Gut

Our brain, senses, and tools aren’t perfect. Understanding where they fall short can help us better navigate and strategize in our environment. They can also help us persuade stubborn people by helping them realize flaws in the processes they feel so confident in. Here are a few weaknesses every human has that you should keep … Read more

Why Is Storytelling Important?

Storytelling is important for four reasons. First, storytelling is important because it helps us deal with a chaotic world. Stories organize our worlds by choosing to emphasize certain things and choosing to deemphasize other things. Because stories can help us filter facts about the world, stories play an important part of how humans create meaning … Read more

Deep Canvassing: A Step By Step Guide

What Is It? Why Should I Care? Deep Canvassing is a conversational system that was created to “generate larger and longer-lasting impacts on voter’s core attitudes.” The conversation is typically initiated by political volunteers who knock doors in a neighborhood. Statistics estimate that 2 of every twenty five people become new supporters, and stay that … Read more

Problems With Occam’s Razor (A Fallacy?)

What Is Occam’s Razor? Occam’s Razor is a principle that says you shouldn’t multiply entities unnecessarily. In other words, don’t select a way of explaining something that has assumptions it doesn’t need to have. This notion of simplicity usually has two parts, that of ontological simplicity, which refers to the number of things postulated to … Read more